[EDIT] Please: Suggestions for an improved forum

[Christian Hjortshøj [busy]]

Since I believe that creating a userfriendly theme with userfriendly functions depends on - yes - the users, I hereby ask every user to come with suggestions to a new and improved SD. Don't worry, even crazy ideas are welcome. We have to be different and cool.

Dec 9, 2011 12:54:49 GMT Christian Hjortshøj [busy] said:

A new SD - here on this domain. Not moving, just the new version. sorry -.- my bad.

[-sĐ.Ѵisionδ]

I dont think moving would make any difference, we would still be in the same boat as we are now?

[BossAlien]

Tbh Jin Oh I dont want to move to a different server and the reason is because all the history is based here on Proboards.

[Christian Hjortshøj [busy]]

Oh, you misunderstood. Sorry
A new SD - here on this domain. Not moving, just the new version. sorry -.- my bad.

[yilduz]

As for the style, feel, and atmosphere - I think it would be cool to see something sleek, less bulky, but artistic (obviously). I don't normally go after the "trendy" styles, but when it comes to graphics communities, I like that feel - so something like that would be cool, and appropriate, in my opinion.

As for simply being user friendly, I think fewer boards would be nice. Many of these are not needed and it just kind of bulks up the main page. Also, the boards and categories are separated into unusual blocks. Then of course, regular users can see the admin area. There is really no point in showing us boards we cannot access.

I think Proboards does a great job of making the overall forum user friendly, so I'd like to see something inviting, clean, and organized in the design and layout.

[Christian Hjortshøj [busy]]

Sorry for the late answer. I've been really busy up to the holidays.

It sounds like a good idea. Or good ideas. Haha. I really like them and the user friendlyness is something you're correct about. I've taken note of it, thank you, yilduz!

[-sĐ.Ѵisionδ]

Dec 11, 2011 8:19:52 GMT yilduz said:

As for the style, feel, and atmosphere - I think it would be cool to see something sleek, less bulky, but artistic (obviously). I don't normally go after the "trendy" styles, but when it comes to graphics communities, I like that feel - so something like that would be cool, and appropriate, in my opinion.

As for simply being user friendly, I think fewer boards would be nice. Many of these are not needed and it just kind of bulks up the main page. Also, the boards and categories are separated into unusual blocks. Then of course, regular users can see the admin area. There is really no point in showing us boards we cannot access.

I think Proboards does a great job of making the overall forum user friendly, so I'd like to see something inviting, clean, and organized in the design and layout.

Good point, hiding the admin section would be a good idea but I think Jay left the Graveyard open so that members can flick through the old topics and posts

[yilduz]

Well, honestly, I've never understood the point of a graveyard. Leave the threads where they are, it's a lot easier for members to find them in their original location if that's what they desire. To me, a graveyard just seems like an excuse to create an additional board, but in my opinion, less is more.

[Webmaren]

The premise of having a graveyard is to separate posts from the old "era" from those going forward without actually removing the posts.

As to your comment about a preferred skin style, I am hoping that you will find the new skin I am designing much in that vein.

[Christian Hjortshøj [busy]]

Yes, I agree. I do.
Since we have a board for suggestions and a thread for the new skin, I'll refer to there and unannounce this thread

[Poet]

I have a lot of different suggestions:

1) More layout options - it's not that I don't like pink, I just don't _love_ it.
2) More examples on the front page - cuz' seriously, when people drop by, what do they see? A black/pink board, with a SOTW-box and 7-8 active users a day, where four are staff members. We don't really show them what we do. What reason do we give people to join us? I have seen more impressive RPG boards than this - sorry to say, but I'm just honest.
3) More community - now this will probably surprise most of you, cuz' why would I ask for more community? Aren't I the "more designs and more codes!"-person? Yes and no. I see three boards under the Community category. One being ramblings, one being contests and one being the graveyard. MAKE A LARGER COMMUNITY! Bring it to the fore-ground! Don't pack everything away in sub-boards! It's really really really a bad idea. Show our guests what we have, don't make them find it. Make a "Gaming Corner"-forum, a "Media Center" for movies and music, a "News Flash" for people, who want to talk about politics, news or other such events, make a "General Talk" for people who just wanna talk about everything and most importantly, make a "Forum Games"-board, for people who like the senseless "ask the next guy a stupid question"-games for hours of entertainment not requiring too much brain activity.
4) Make the site stand out - create a special code, a special layout, a special system -- a special _anything!_ Make people think that they _have_ to be a member of this site in order to - I don't know - be a better person, be better programmers, be better designers etc.
5) Make the site look professional - People like thinking that they are better than they actually are, so if the site is all "go pro", people will automatically be attracted to it, since they can say "oh I'm on this awesome _PRO_ board, you know. Shadow Designs. Never heard of it? Well you're _clearly_ not pro enough!"

By the way: Why would you ever use MINT with pink? I'm referring to the "sD Twitter @sdesignsgfx" text in the bottom of the page. Use logos! People like seeing things they know what are, they tend to not like reading. If I could I would've written this whole text using symbols other than the latin alphabet, but I fear that most people don't know much about morse code or symbology, so I decided to play safe.